Medical marijuana dispensary now open in Holly Hill

VidaCann's Holly Hill treatment center is the company's first in the state.

A medical marijuana dispensary is now open in the immediate Daytona Beach area, giving local registered patients, and those interested, easier access to treatment.

VidaCann's new treatment center is located at 1027 N. Nova Road, suite 105, in Holly Hill. It is one of 13 companies licensed by the Florida Department of Health. The Jacksonville-based company offers two types of medicine formats for patients: capsules or tincture.

It is the third dispensary in Volusia County. The other two dispensaries, which are not VidaCann's, are located in Edgewater and Deltona. Vidacann gained its license from the Department of Health in October, and since then, it has built a lab in Jacksonville, began cultivating and started on the path to opening 10-12 more stores in the next six to eight months, said Peyton Moseley, vice president of product development at VidaCann.

“Those are the type of things that you have to have an open mind to. There’s living proof of a lady who probably all her life was told that marijuana was bad for you."

Sean Yereance, dispensary manager for VidaCann

“We’re proud to say that we’ve done all that in as quick of time and already have our first store open and have approval from the Department of Health for home delivery also," Moseley said. "So, we’re excited.”

Mosely said the city of Holly Hill was very accommodating and easy to work with. Since access was an important deciding factor on location, he said they wanted to be on a main road that traveled the Daytona Beach corridor.

Currently, VidaCann offers two main medical cannabis strains and one hybrid. Depending on the qualifying ailment, which according to the Department of Health include cancer, epilepsy, PTSD and multiple sclerosis, VidaCann will help them figure out which strain is better. The prescribing doctor decides the dose.

VidaCann carries two different medical cannabis products: tinctures and capsules.

Palm Coast resident Sean Yereance, who is the dispensary manager for the new location, said medical marijuana has come a long way since Amendment 2 passed, despite lingering stigma. Because it's still illegal on a Federal level, Yearance said no tests and research can be conducted in the U.S., but other countries are able to do so and that's the research that has helped the industry.

“You can see the benefits of it if you actually sit down and do the research and have an open mind to it — you see that it can change somebody’s quality of life for the better," Yereance said.

Working at VidaCann for the past month and a half has allowed him to see results of treatment firsthand.

He mentioned a 90-year-old woman suffering from arthritis who has been on medical marijuana since the beginning of this year. He said she told him that before treatment, she couldn't hold her walker. Now, she was able to squeeze Yereance's hand.

“Those are the type of things that you have to have an open mind to," Yereance said. "There’s living proof of a lady who probably all her life was told that marijuana was bad for you."

Mosely said VidaCann's goal is to have 30 centers open by the end of 2019, all in major markets.

“We won’t stop until there’s a dispensary that’s easy to access for every resident of Florida," Mosely said.